The Quiet One
by TheLostMaximoff
Summary: Toad spends a few moments contemplating his relationship with Wanda and his former life in high school.


**The Quiet One**

By TheLostMaximoff

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters.  This is mostly inspired by a conversation I had with someone recently.  It's been a seemingly very long time since I've done Toad so enjoy.

Author's Note: For the record in pretty much all of my stories that happen after Ascension Toad and Wanda are an official couple.  Explanation for that can be found in 'Better Left Forgotten' if you haven't read it. (shameless plug)

            Ya know there are some moments in your life where you really need to kinda ask yourself how you got here.  You just kinda need ta step back a little and figure out what happened and where you're goin'.  I guess now would be a good time ta do that seein' as how I'm sittin' here on the front porch alone.  You usually only have moments like this when so much of your life has changed.  I guess that's how it feels like now.

            For some weird reason my thoughts drift back to high school probably because that's really where this whole thing started.  It wasn't really that long ago I was walkin' down those halls even though now it seems like a whole lifetime has passed since then.  Why I remember or want to remember everything so clearly is a mystery to me but I do.  I remember what it felt like to be all alone and swimming with the sharks.  I remember back before the rest of the guys came when I didn't have very many friends at all.  I remember what it was like before she came into my life.

            Every school has at least one.  Yeah, you know the kinda kid I'm talkin' about.  He's short, shrimpy, quiet, shy; the list goes on for at least a mile.  Maybe I'm wrong though.  I mean this type o' kid's real easy to overlook so maybe you don't know or remember him.  He's the one who sits in the back of the class and doesn't say much if he says anything at all.  He's the kid who has only a couple of friends to sit with at lunch and they sit in the corner of the room where no one else bothers them.  He's the kid who chokes when he tries to ask out a pretty girl and the one who gets picked on by all the jocks 'cause he's an easy target.  He's the quiet one they all say, the one voted "Most Likely to Be Easily Forgotten".  Every school has at least one of those kids, right?  Yeah, well when it comes to Bayville High I was that kid.  No big surprise there.

            Sometimes I wonder how much o' who I am has ta do with my mutant powers.  Would I still be such a dork, such a loser, if I was just plain, old Todd instead of Toad?  Yeah, I think I would be.  I'd still be short and skinny.  I'd still sit there with the rest of the guys and watch all the pretty girls I had crushes on run off to date guys like Duncan Matthews with their good looks and fancy sports cars.  Even if my tongue wasn't six feet long it'd still get tied up when I tried ta ask one of those girls out on a date.  I'd still be that lonely kid you'd always look straight through like he was invisible and never notice.

            It used to hurt a lot, being the quiet one that no one cared about or noticed.  It used to eat me up inside.  I'd watch Duncan or even Summers and see how they got good-lookin' girls.  I'd study 'em all but the one thing I learned was that I could never be like them.  I couldn't just go up to some girl I liked, feed her a line, and have her fawning all over me.  I just wasn't that type o' person and I figured it was pretty much hopeless to think I could fake it.  So yeah, I'd watch Duncan and then later Pietro treat girls like they were trophies while the girls thought they were really in love with 'em.  I'd hear some o' those girls complain to their friends sometimes about wanting a guy who actually cares about them and loves them.  Newsflash, sweetie, I'm standin' right here waitin' for a girl who wants that.  Nope, truth is girls don't really know what they want because if they did really want a guy who loves them then maybe one of them would've given me a chance.

            I suddenly feel someone sit down next to me on the porch.  I guess I was so caught up in thinking I barely even noticed her step out the door.  I don't really have to guess who it is and it'd be kinda dumb to anyways.  I can always tell when she's around.

            "You okay, Todd?" asks Wanda.  I stare at her and just like always I can barely respond because I have to concentrate on trying to breathe.  It absolutely blows my mind when I think about how someone as beautiful and perfect as her can love a slimy, disgusting freak like me.  For a little while I just stare at her and can't help but wonder if this is all some kind of incredible dream.  If it is then I hope I never have to wake up.

            "Yeah," I reply, "I was just thinkin' about stuff."  She can tell I'm sorta lying.  I can read it in her eyes.  She has the most wonderfully blue eyes I've ever seen.  They just kinda suck you in when you stare into them.  They're like a big, sparkling, crystal blue sea that you want to lose yourself, to drown, in forever.

            "You wanna talk about it?" she asks.  I feel the warmth of her body as her arm slides around my shoulder.  She really does care about how I'm feeling.  It's the most wonderful feeling in the world to finally have someone who cares.

            "It's not important," I tell her even though my voice says I'm lyin' again.  She nods a little.  She knows there are some things you just can't talk to people about no matter how much you may want to.

            "If you ever do want to talk then I'll listen," she promises.  I nod since I'm still kinda awed by her beauty and can't really seem to say much.  We just sit there for a little bit with her arm still around my shoulder and stare at the night sky.

            Maybe our relationship isn't very strange at all.  I mean she's absolutely gorgeous but still she's kinda quiet too.  For a little bit I wonder what she would be like without everything that's happened to her.  Somethin' tells me she'd still be one of the quiet ones, the kids who kinda slip through the cracks while nobody's lookin'.  I bet she'd be just as shy as I am.  I mean even though she's the bravest person I've ever met she don't really seem like the type of girl who'd walk right up to her crush and flat ask him out, ya know?  No, she's the girl no one bothers to really notice.  You know the type I bet.  Maybe it's 'cause she's not pretty enough or she has the wrong personality or any other reason you'd like to name but whatever the reason is people just don't really see her as somebody worth lovin'.  Maybe we were sorta meant for each other, ya know?  The guy who's never been loved and the girl who's never been noticed.  The guy who wants someone to love and the girl who wants to be loved by someone.  Maybe our relationship's not so strange now that I think about it.

            "I love you," she whispers in my ear.  I know she means it with all her heart.  I realize then I'm probably the luckiest person in the world to have someone like her.  I may still be goofy and awkward and shy but at least now I've got someone who loves me for all those things and a whole lot of other reasons.  Bein' the quiet kid is never easy but at least now I don't have to be one alone.


End file.
